From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 116: Crazy Director (4)

The first thing that Ari registered was the pain of his head slamming into the ground, then the air was knocked out of him with a heavy weight pressing down on his stomach and chest, and finally, he felt a strange pulse of pain in his left leg.

The world seemed to move in slow motion as he lay there for a while.

With his blurry vision, he vaguely saw people moving around and heard shouting through the ringing in his ears.

Then, everything seemed to rush into place at once as the heavy weight was lifted off of him and somebody sat him up while shaking him around, making him feel nauseous.

With his head bowed, he could hear screaming, something about an ambulance and low blood sugar, the sounds of contestants shouting, and the stages being lowered, before a piercing voice broke through and calmed everything down.

Taking a deep breath and clutching his head, Ari glared up at Caleb, who was grabbing his shoulders to shake him again with a fake concerned look on his face.

"Put your hands on me and shake me again, and I’ll accidentally headbutt you in the face and break your nose." At the whispered threat, Caleb immediately froze before being shoved aside by the director, who knelt in front of Ari while holding his hands up.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three?" Ari replied while blinking to clear the blurriness in his eyes as he quickly counted off the director’s fingers.

Director Cooper Braggs was looking at him with a slightly irritated expression while a man with a first aid kit stood behind him.

"What’s your full name?"

"Ariel Matisse."

"Age?"

"17."

"Do you remember what you were doing?"

"Suffering."

At Ari’s flippant words, the Cooper Braggs’ face tightened even more, "Be serious."

"Just kidding. Kind of. I was performing a song. It was the ’Pick Me signal song - rotating stages take 40? I got hit by the rotating stage wall, and Matthew fell into me, knocking me down to the ground."

"What else do you remember?"

"Somebody lifted him, I got shaken around, and now you’re here. That’s it."

"Perfect, he’s fine. He’s fine! Filming doesn’t need to be interrupted. Take the diabetic kid to the hospital, and everyone gets back to your position so we can film again." Director Cooper Braggs waved off the contestants crowding in with concerned looks before turning back to Ari with a fake smile.

"You’re fine, right, kid? Ready to film again? You really need to be careful. It wasn’t that big of a fall, though. If you had paid attention, something like this wouldn’t have happened."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

What kind of nonsense was coming out of this man’s mouth?

How was it his fault that somebody fainted because their blood sugar was low?

This shady director hadn’t even done the concussion protocol, and the person with the first aid kit, who was standing behind Cooper Braggs, was making eye contact with Ari while shaking his head no and silently tapping the first aid kit and pointing toward the door.

There was no way on earth he would agree to go back to filming.

"No, I’m not. I want to get checked out by a medical professional to make sure I don’t have a concussion. Also, my leg hurts." Ari replied in a polite tone, holding up his left ankle, which was turning red and swelling up.

Truth be told, he was completely pissed and wanted to scream.

He was already concerned about his team’s performance, and now he might be injured?

And the director, who was 95 percent responsible, wanted him to continue as if nothing was wrong?

If he could, he wanted to shove the director down from the stage with another contestant leaning on him, just to see how he felt afterwards.

"Aren’t you being dramatic? It’s just a little swelling."

"It’s more than a little swelling. Also, my head hurts and my vision is blurry. It might be a concussion."

"Kids these days are so dramatic. I checked that. You’re fine."

"No, I’m not. I would prefer the verification of a medical professional at a hospital."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Director Cooper Braggs: ಠ_ಠ

What the heck was wrong with this kid?

This was the second time that he had refuted him so openly, as if he weren’t afraid of the consequences.

Why couldn’t he take a hint and stop arguing with him?? It was bad enough that one weakling had already fallen off, but if this brat left, then his beautiful vision would be disrupted.

Feeling his pride being wounded, Cooper Bragg continued glaring at Ari, who, after noticing PD Ji-ho approaching with a cameraman, gave Cooper Braggs a hurt expression."I’m a minor and I’m injured on your set. Legally, you have to let me get examined and treated while you cover the fees, or I can tell my guardian to sue you for everything you’re worth."

[What guardian?]

[Weren’t you homeless and jobless a couple of weeks ago?]

Ari ignored NOVA’s words, focusing on how Cooper Bragg’s eyebrow began twitching at the word sue, before continuing with a bright smile, "Additionally, in the state of California, you can’t have minors record for more than 10 consecutive hours, so everyone under 18 needs to leave pretty soon or you’re violating labor laws, and are open to a lawsuit. Right, PD Ji-ho? I looked it up last night."

Ari turned to look at the Korean PD, who slowly lost his smile as well.

Seeing both people stay silent, Ari slowly got to his feet, wincing as he tried to put weight on it.

Jamie immediately rushed to grab one arm while Benjamin grabbed the other, and two tall boys propped Ari between them, leaving his feet dangling above the ground.

After several seconds, PD Ji-ho nodded toward Cooper Braggs.

"We need to wrap filming up within the next twenty minutes to prevent further injuries or...violations. Contestant Ariel and the two of you follow the writer. They’ll take you to the hospital and contact your guardian. I hope your injury is not too serious."

"Thank you." Ari nodded toward the PD before following a copper-haired staff member who was waving at them to follow her.

The three of them quickly went outside and waited for the staff member to pull up her car.

While they stood there, the other two boys began fussing over Ari.

"Ari, are you okay? How’s your head? Your leg?" Jamie asked, his blue eyes narrowed with concern.

With a bored tone, Ari categorized everything before reporting it, "Head hurts, leg hurts, chest hurts. Can’t do anything right now, so rather than worry about me, what happened to Matthew?"

"Mans apparently forgot his glucose meter and fainted due to low blood sugar. Ambulance took him to the hospital for a check-up, same as we’re doing for you innit?"

Benjamin looked back toward the direction that they came from, before muttering under his breath, "Nasty work that one. Acts like his has a pole up his arse. Big ups for standing up to him."

Guessing that Benjamin was speaking about director Cooper Braggs, Ari nodded in agreement before changing the subject to what he was actually curious about.

"Enough about me. What’s going on with your team? Carlos looks sad each time I ask about it, but doesn’t say anything."

"Of course, he can’t say anything. Bruv, I can’t lie. That Spanish friend of yours, yeah? I don’t rate him at all. That brother is a wasteman." Benjamin spat out with an angry expression.